


take me out, let me in

by writing_words (fandom_cliQue)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Hogwarts AU, Idiots in Love, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), POV Alternating, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, a sort of shitty headmaster is a hallmark of hogwarts, oblivious kids, shiro and keith have adopted brothers relationship, they're so dumb i love them, very convoluted plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-07-07 03:36:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15900090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_cliQue/pseuds/writing_words
Summary: Everyone knows, even the pair of them: Lance and Keith, neck and neck, competing students since their first year at Hogwarts. Everyone knows, except the pair of them: Lance and Keith, pining and pining, competing for attention since their first year at Hogwarts.aka, someone help them





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is very self indulgent and convoluted good luck

'Wands out, shoulders back, chin up, and go!' Professor Coran's voice bounced off the walls, but was quickly lost beneath the loud shouts of the students going loose with their curse. A couple squeals of excitement were instantly heard, the lucky few that were just gifted enough to get it right off the bat, but the noise was mainly the students chanting the incantation over and over, hoping for even just sparks as recognition from their wands.

'I wish Pidge was here,' Lance grumbled under his breath. 'She would help me.'

'Can you shut up? I'm trying to concentrate.'

Lance's eyes snapped up to Keith, who was glaring at him over Shay's head.

'Why the hell are you even listening to me,' Lance fired off angrily, gripping his wand tighter.

'It's not my fault you're over there sulking loudly about your missing girlfriend,' Keith shrugged, returning to his practice dummy. Lance fumed.

'She's not my girlfriend!'

'Yeah, yeah,' Keith muttered. ' _Reducto_!' Lance was disappointed when his rival's dummy disintegrated a moment later.

' _Reducto_ ,' Lance yelled loudly, and the curse quickly backfired and sent him flying into the wall.

'Now now,' Professor Coran shouted, desperate to be heard above his students. 'We are year 5 students! We should be past letting our emotions get the better of us when we practice!'

'Are you okay,' Shay asked, extending a hand to Lance and pulling him up from his slouched position on the ground.

'Yeah, sure,' Lance grunted, not wanting to project his anger onto the girl.

'Just ignore him,' Shay offered, dropping his hand and returning to her dummy. Lance rolled his shoulders back and shook his head a little, hoping Shay's advice would stick. A few more attempts at the curse had Lance cursing himself, tempted to throw his wand across the room. Keith was sitting again, as was allowed for the students who could successfully cast the enchantment three times in a row. Lance felt like the boy was watching him, scrutinizing his moves, and his hunch was confirmed a moment later when Keith's bored voice made its way toward him.

'C'mon Lance, it's not that hard. Like this, watch.  _Reducto_!' Lance's dummy exploded marvelously in the center of the room. 

'Fuck,' Lance snapped, whipping his wand around and aiming it at Keith. ' _Aqua Eructo_!' A spell he could count on. An icy blue light and a jet of water erupted from the end of his wand, knocking Keith with such force the boy was flung from his chair and onto the ground, soaked. 

'Fall in line,' Professor Coran snapped as everyone's heads turned. 

'What the hell is your damage,' Keith snarled, pushing himself up from the floor and stalking angrily towards Lance. 

'I will not have my students behaving like this,' Professor Coran shouted, pushing through the crowd towards the boys. They both ignored him. 

'Why are you determined to just one up me on everything?'

'You don't have to be determined if it isn't hard to do!'

'Fuck you,' Lance spat, but before he could surge forward, Shay was gripping his wrist tightly and pulling him away. 

'Out, both of you,' Professor Coran yelled as he reached them. 'Absolutely ridiculous! Headmaster's office! Now!'

The teacher looked ridiculous, his mustache bristling by some weird magic he always enchanted it with, face as red as his hair, but the whole class was silent and Lance felt mildly embarrassed. Coran grabbed them both by their collars and threw the boys from the room with more force than anyone gave him credit for. 

'Shay, follow them. Make sure they don't keep up this outlandish behavior they've decided to pursue.'

Shay nodded silently and waited for the boys to collect themselves as Coran slammed the classroom door with a heavy 'bang'.

'I can't fucking believe this,' Keith growled. 

'Keith,' Shay warned in a low tone, glaring at her housemate. 

'No, this fucking hothead goes loose in class and  _I'm_  paying the price right now?'

'I'm the hothead,' Lance snapped reaching for his wand. 'I'll show you hothead.'

'Bring it on, dunce,' Keith challenged, grabbing his own wand. 

'Enough,' Shay roared, stepping between the two and smacking them both hard in the chest. 'Cut it out right now. This is pathetic.'

Lance bit his tongue, always impressed by Shay. Keith seemed to share some of that respect, as he shoved his wand back into his robes and stalked off towards Headmaster Alfor's office. Shay stayed with Lance, waiting for him to catch his breath, before walking with him after Keith.

'He's not that bad, you know,' Shay said, as she always did. 'You two always get ridiculous around each other.'

'I can't imagine suffering through being his housemate,' Lance grumbled angrily. Shay gave him a pointed glare. 

'Like I said, Lance, he's not that bad.' A moment of silence passed. Keith was no where to be seen when they made it to the Headmaster's office, but the door was closed, so Lance perched on the tiny bench to wait. Shay shifted on her feet, looking worried. 

'I'm going to get back to class,' she said eventually. 'When he comes out, don't kill him. I'll see you at lunch, okay?'

Lance nodded sullenly. He sat alone for a few minutes before Keith came out, shot him an angry glare, and ran off like a shot down the stairs.

'Lance,' Headmaster Alfor called gently. Lance shuffled into the office, ashamed of how familiar it was to him. 

'This really must be a new record for a term,' Alfor commented. 'Three times this month, son? Surely you two can do better than that.'

Lance shrugged. 'He just... he constantly shows off.' 

Alfor smiled, one that went unnoticed. 'You boys complain about very similar things.'

Lance looked up. 'That's impossible. I would never do anything Keith would do.'

'I'll take you for your word,' Alfor said. 'Now, you boys know the punishment. Common room, Lance. Until this class period is over. No contacting classmates. No homework.'

'That's it? Keith was in here for like, twenty minutes!'

'Keith has a lot more to say,' Alfor shrugged. Lance opened his mouth to argue, but knew it would be pointless. Instead, he sighed and changed the topic. 

'That no homework punishment rule is dumb.'

'You disrupt your classmates' learning time, I disrupt yours,' Alfor replied, as he always did. 

With that, Lance retreated from the office, on his way towards his common room, when someone shoved him against the wall, pinning him there with their body weight. 

'Stop getting us in trouble,' Keith warned quietly. He was very serious, all dark eyes and low voice, bangs still wet from class and dripping on to the tip of his nose and now on to Lance's robes.

'Stop me,' Lance challenged. A moment of silence passed between them, and Lance certainly didn't categorize it in his head. Most certainly didn't count it in the long list of silences that had passed just like this one, albeit in different circumstances, different hallways, but moments like these, nonetheless. 

Keith inevitably shifted away, as he always did, rather than rise to the challenge. Lance wished when, in those positions, he had better access to his wand. He wanted to be able to fight the day he finally pushed Keith over the edge. 

-

'Insufferable fuck,' Lance finished, stabbing his mashed potatoes angrily with his fork. 

'You owe me fave galleons,' Pidge said by way of response. Lance looked up to see Hunk reluctantly passing the coins to Pidge. 

'What did I do this time,' Lance groaned. 

'Ranted for more than five minutes without pausing or returning to the subject,' Pidge informed Lance gleefully. 'Keep it up buddy; I'll be rich by the time this term is over.'

'Lance, I mean, we all have classes with him. This doesn't happen until it's you two. Maybe you guys have some like, other issues that you need to work out outside of class, because you're really starting to damage your ability to learn.'

'You sound like Allura,' Lance deflected, letting his eyes wander to the Head Girl who had moved to sit at the head table between her father and Coran. They caught eyes for a moment and she smiled and Lance felt his whole body ready itself for a revolution. 

'Yeah, right, so have you got Reducto down yet,' Hunk asked masterfully directing the conversation back on track. 

'No, but I soaked Keith pretty thoroughly.'

Pidge snorted. 'Ha. Gay.'

'Hey, it started by me defending your honor. He thinks we're dating.'

'No he doesn't,' Pidge responded, annoyingly unbothered. 

'You don't know what goes on inside his head,' Lance claimed dramatically. 'The horrible thoughts and plots he conjures, simply to spite me.'

'Sorry guys,' Shay apologized as she slipped into a bench space beside Hunk, pecking his cheek quickly. 'I had to go prefect on some first year asses. How long did Lance rant this time?'

'Oh come on,' Lance cried as Pidge gladly informed Hunk's girlfriend of how everything was going right for her. Shay was kind enough to look sympathetic.

'But I can see it,' Pidge said suddenly, smirking at Lance. 'It's absolutely diabolical of him, over there, laughing with his brother and completely ignoring you. Definitely acting out of spite.'

Lance cast his eyes to the Gryffindor table, where Keith wasn't exactly laughing, but certainly looked much more pleasant than he had this afternoon. The dumb idiot smirked and Lance felt his whole body ready itself for a fight.

-

'You'll probably make Quidditch captain next year anyway,' Shiro informed Keith, who felt the unquestioned praise from his brother deep in his chest. 'Adam thinks so, anyway. And he's got the staff wrapped around his pinky.'

'Not just the staff,' Keith teased. Shiro smiled devilishly. 

'I'm wrapped around a lot more than his pinky.'

'Gross,' Keith declared, pushing his plate of food away to dramatically emphasize his point. 'Why? Why do you just kill me like this at every chance you get?'

Shiro shrugged as he ate a spoonful of the lunch soup. 'Allura tells me you got in another fight earlier.'

'I didn't do anything. That jackass just went loose on me.'

'You guys will grow out of it. Adam and I did.' 

Keith frowned. 'But you guys are like, in love and shit. Lance is just a jerk.'

'You'll grow out of it.'

'But I don't want to grow out of it. Not in the way you're suggesting. That's just... wrong.'

Shiro shrugged again, and Keith felt on edge, needing to explain himself as his eyes passed over Lance and his dumb, eclectic group of friends. 'Because, like I said, Lance is a jerk, and you and Adam are housemates and you get along sometimes, Lance and I just hate each other. We'll grow out of it when we graduate and only see each other every ten years for an uncomfortable class reunion. That's it.'

'Okay, Keith, calm down. Anyway, Adam is planning a... party of sorts at the end of term. All houses. Allura is coordinating with her dad now. You down for that?'

Keith balked at the sudden change of direction. 'I... I guess so. What's it for?'

'Something happened with Adam that was brought to the school's attention. And Alfor likes him so much, there's going to be a party. Adam's super excited.'

Keith scoffed. 'Your boyfriend is really going to be the death of me.'

'Just be glad I talked him out of a scavenger hunt in the Forbidden Forest.' 

-

'Hey guys,' Allura greeted sweetly, her freshly redone hair shining against her dark robes. 

'That blue hue is nice,' Shiro commented at first glance. 'Goes with your Ravenclaw tie.'

'Damn you're gay,' Keith said. Shiro stuck his tongue out at his brother for a second while Allura laughed. 

'I've been meaning to make my hair cooler-toned for a while. I never considered it going with my house colors though. Thank you Shiro.' She made herself comfortable on the stonewall beside Keith, examining their game of Gobstones. With a flick of her wand, she executed a move on Keith's behalf the boy never would have dreamed of, and he laughed at Shiro's expression. 

'The sooner you're finished with this silly game, the sooner we can coordinate on your... party,' Allura stumbled, her cheeks turning pink. Keith was a little surprised; Allura rarely got so flustered. But Shiro seemed to understand, and he quickly threw the game to finish it quickly. 

'Dude,' Keith complained. 'What the heck?'

'Head boy duties,' Shiro apologized, straightening his tie. 'That Adam party thing I mentioned to you in passing. Some finishing touches. You'll hear about it soon.'

Keith furrowed his brows. 'Okay... just... make sure you've got heating under control. Nothing worse than an uncomfortable party because the heating is fucked.'

'That's a fantastic note, Keith, thank you,' Allura exclaimed, genuine gratitude oozing out of her words. Keith nodded in dismissal, and scanned the courtyard to see if anyone else would play with him. The only person worth talking to was Shay, who was comfortably sat next to her boyfriend, who was having an animated discussion with Lance, and the day Keith approached Lance's vicinity voluntarily was the day hell froze over.

Lance was always sneaky, moving too fast, because a moment later, they were locking eyes across the courtyard. Lance's eyes narrowed to angered slits as he flipped Keith off, who rolled his eyes and decided to move. 

-

'Look at him,' Lance sneered, turning back to Hunk. 'I mean, just, just look at that smug bastard! Probably plotting some way to one-up me in class later.'

'That's great buddy, but I think he could be worried about a thousand other things,' Hunk replied, all too casual for Lance's liking. 

'Oh yeah? Like what?'

'Haven't you noticed how secretive Shiro and Allura have been recently,' Shay asked from her napping spot against Hunk's arm. 'They're definitely plotting something with the teachers. And Keith isn't really bonded to anyone like he is to Shiro. If he and Allura are collaborating on something the other students can't know about yet, that puts Keith on the outs.'

'But everyone loves Keith,' Lance exclaimed, glaring at Keith's back as his rival left the courtyard like a coward. 'It's always 'Keith can do this charm' and 'Keith pulled off this flight pattern' and 'Keith's the hottest kid in our year'. Everyone loves Keith.'

'I could argue a couple of those points you just made without mercy,' Shay said, sitting upright to engage more. 'But I'll start with this: just cause everyone loves Keith doesn't mean he loves them.'

Lance felt a churning in his gut, a low, primal shift, like pent up anger and frustration. Or something. 

'Lance, we love you, but you really need to tone it down,' Hunk informed his friend, smiling apologetically. Lance huffed, annoyed that no one seemed to understand the intensity of his emotions. 

-

The first game of the season was Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Lance could see Pidge in the stands, having dressed herself up with rapidly flashing clothing, showing off her support for Slytherin. Hunk and Shay stood out in their neutral colors, donning the school colors instead of any particular house color. Shay never took sides, having befriended students from every house, and Hunk liked all of his friends too much to choose. 

Across the field, the Gryffindor Quidditch team looked menacing as they stalked towards the center, all serious faces and scowls. Lance was unfortunately directly opposite Keith as they held the same position on their teams. They made eye contact and Lance was itching to get off the ground, his whole body on fire with excitement and edge. 

'A clean game, students,' Zarkon growled, mounting his own broom and charming the chest of balls to follow him. 'Anyone breaks those rules, I'll have you in detention faster than you can say sorry.'

The teams kicked into the air to the roar of the crowd and the game began with the sharp blast of Zarkon's whistle. The snitch disappeared from sight almost immediately, and Lance concentrated on gaining elevation quickly without passing out. He could see Keith doing the same out of the corner of his eye, and he leaned against his broomstick, his old, well-loved broomstick. His team captain Iverson worried about how well it would last over the season, but Lance had faith in it. 

The players zoomed and ducked beneath him; at one point, Lance narrowly avoided a bludger racing by, but the game didn't seem out of the ordinary, especially for the beginning of the season. His eyes had trained themselves to follow Keith's movement subtly, not wanting the opposing team to get too far ahead with a fancy seeker and his fancy broom. 

The other students cheered wildly in the stands; Pidge had reached the point of firing Slytherin-colored sparks from the tip of her wand enthusiastically, as Shay and Hunk frantically put out the colorful fires started by them. Lance missed seeing his older sister standing with them; he'd always drawn strength from seeing his family cheer him on. 

'Move,' a loud voice shouted in his ear, but Lance was too slow to react, as Keith smacked into him at an alarming speed, knocking the air from his lungs. Lance's poor broom couldn't take it: caught between the awkward angle of Lance's legs and Keith's broom handle, it snapped, falling away beneath Lance and leaving him clinging to Keith's broom. 

'Get off,' Keith shouted aggressively as he didn't slow, his broom veering off track. 

'I don't want to die, idiot,' Lance snapped back. 

'It won't bother me.'

'Fuck you,' Lance shouted, aiming a poor punch at Keith's arm. By some miracle, he hit the boy near the elbow and his whole arm buckled, making him slam face first into the handle of his broom. By some stroke of bad luck, Keith's jerking movement sent the broom flying, and the boys, both clinging to the broom for dear life, were thrown towards the Forbidden Forest and disappeared beneath the trees.

-

Keith didn't like being knocked out. It was always disorienting, and he always felt vulnerable afterwards, especially as he was usually knocked out by someone, in this case, Lance. 

'You did it again,' Keith groaned as he sat up, pressing a hand to his neck and wincing at the bruise. The sun hadn't changed much, from what he could tell, so he couldn't have been out long.

'Yeah yeah, whatever, it's always _my_ fault,' Lance sighed from somewhere above him. Keith took a minute to acknowledge their height, having landed on the higher half of a tree. Keith could see his broom balancing precariously on a branch far below him; he'd have to engage in some serious parkour to retrieve it. 

'Well, if you hadn't punched me...'

'If you hadn't insulted me.'

'Hey, you can do that all on your own,' Keith shrugged. Lance struggled against the branches sticking into his robes as he huffed angrily. 

'There you go again! Just fucking calm it sometimes, won't you? God, it's gotten to the point where I'm just ready to fight every time I see you!'

Keith didn't reply. He had stopped paying attention, he was instead focusing on how to get down to his broom. 

'It's like, you are destined to be my fightmate. Like soulmates, but opposites!'

'What would you know about soulmates,' Keith called back. 'By the way, Allura asked me to tell you to stop flirting with her so much; it freaks her out.'

'Yeah right, jokes on you, I haven't flirted with Allura in months,' Lance scoffed. Keith craned his neck to spot Lance, who was slowly lowering himself to Keith's level branch by branch. 'You're probably just jealous.'

'Jealous of girls being put off by your aggressive methods?'

'Jealous of the fact that I have any methods at all.'

Keith rolled his eyes and allowed himself to drop a few branches. Lance let out a surprise yelp as the branch he was balanced on cracked and he fell. Keith instinctively reached out as Lance fell past him, and the falling boy grabbed his wrist. Keith struggled to maintain his balance as Lance flailed for a moment in his grasp. 

'Would you stop moving,' Keith ordered. 

'Make me,' Lance challenged, his favorite challenge, it seemed to Keith. Keith hooked his arm around a sturdy branch as Lance swung towards another, perching there and glaring at Keith aggressively. 

'I get why girls are turned off,' Keith commented in passing. When no response came from the Slytherin, Keith spared a glance his way, to see the boy with a peculiar expression. 'What now?'

'I'm just not that intense,' Lance said quickly, hurriedly, slipping a little on the branch. 'You're just weak in terms of confrontation.'

'Excuse me,' Keith growled. 

'Did I fucking stutter,' Lance retorted, slipping a little farther, and Keith lunged at him, any hopes of regaining his broom dashed as they tumbled from the tree and began wrestling on the ground. 

'You're insufferable,' Keith spat as he shoved Lance into a tree. Lance ducked beneath his messy punch and pushed him to the side. 

'And you're a real dick, so what gives?'

Keith finally caught him and pinned him to the ground, forearm against his collarbones. 'You never just shut the fuck up. Someone's going to teach you a lesson one of these days and I'm going to pat him on the fucking back.'

'Everyone else loves me, dude, you're just delusional thinking I'm the prick in this situation,' Lance commented, not looking terribly concerned for his own safety despite being semi-choked.

'What did I just say,' Keith growled, pressing down harder. Lance's cheeks were turning red, and he opened his mouth to reply when another voice entered the space. 

'How is it, in the actual Forbidden Forest, you guys are still the biggest threat to the other?'

Keith scrambled to his feet as Shiro descended from the trees with a pointed glare for both of them. 

'How-how'd you find us,' Lance stammered, brushing himself off. 

'Keith let's me track his wand,' Shiro answered, retrieving his wand from his own robes to show it glowing white. Lance's head whipped around to watch Keith with a wicked expression. 

'You're not supposed to take your wand to a match, you're required to leave it in the changing room. That's grounds to be kicked off of the team.'

'Shut up, would you? You'd be stuck here if it wasn't for me!'

'Stuck?'

'It's not like I'd let you hitch a ride once I got my broom down!'

'Boys,' Shiro sighed, planting his feet into the dead leaves and needles on the ground and glaring at them. 'Just. Lance, you ride with me. Keith, get your damn broom.'

'By myself,' Keith complained. Shiro gave him a blank stare. 

'You're a fucking wizard. It shouldn't be that hard.'

Keith felt his own embarrassment creep into his cheeks as he pulled out his wand and summoned his broom down; Lance looking absolutely delighted as he climbed on to the back of Shiro's broom. 

-

'My dad has a collection of brooms, if you want to look over the holidays,' Pidge offered over dinner. 'I guess, until then, you'll have to use a school broom.'

'Nah, it's fine,' Lance sighed, pushing his corn around on his plate. 'I get all my stuff from my family, they have a lot of friends and talents and whatever, so I'll send them a letter. Oh, but shit, we just moved again, over the summer. Greece now. Shit, okay, well, until they can find me one in the boxes, I'll just use a school broom, I suppose.' 

Pidge shrugged. 'Okay, but they don't have to break their backs. My dad has some cool stuff. I could modify it.'

'Can you make it faster than Keith's broom?'

Pidge thought for a bit. 'I mean. Maybe. But not instantly. It would take a while, maybe even until graduation, so... I don't know that it would be worth it. Why?'

'Competitive edge.'

'You guys don't compete that often in flying,' Hunk pointed out. 'It'd be a waste to use Pidge's time for that.'

'Yeah but, I'd get a better reputation as a flyer,' Lance argued. 

Pidge snorted into her water. 'A faster broom doesn't make you a better flyer.'

'Wow, so you're saying I can't surpass Keith?'

'That's literally so far from what I said it's ridiculous. I'm saying you can't surpass Keith with a faster broom. With intense training and honing of skill, maybe.'

'Real vote of confidence in a maybe,' Lance pouted. Their group was silent for a moment, until Hunk asked timidly, 'Do you still want your corn?'

Lance didn't.

-

All fifth years were required to study together every Thursday from lunch till thirty minutes before dinner. The library was only accessible to non-fifth years with a teacher's note indicating which book they needed, which was always instantly brought to them rather than the student entering the library at all. Lance thought it was ridiculous. But the school took studying for the OWLs seriously, and Lance didn't like fighting the staff. 

That meant that once a week, Lance had his friends to hold him back in front of teachers. PIdge curled up against his side where they sat, nestled in the bookshelves, and Lance was very aware of Keith at the other shelves, browsing silently. 

'You gotta be more subtle,' Pidge muttered.

'He just... he's up to no good,' Lance replied, looking back to his book on potion making. 'Where's Hunk? He can help me with this.'

'Don't change the subject,' Pidge chastised, shutting her own book. 'You guys have been insane since this year started. More so than usual. Hormones acting up?'

'Don't be gross,' Lance said, shoving Pidge off of him. 

'Could say the same to you,' Keith muttered. Lance hadn't noticed he had moved close, standing just on the other side of Pidge and browsing through the books. 

'Don't you have something better to do,' Lance growled. 

'Not here,' Pidge demanded, a hand on Lance's chest, but glaring at Keith.

'PDA really shouldn't be allowed during class hours,' Keith said by way of response, lip curling at Pidge's hand on Lance. 

'I've created three new curses since the term started, each of which still needs to be tested on a living creature. The first test usually has horrible side effects.'

Pidge and Keith had a long staring contest, and Lance studied Keith, watching his shoulders tense. 

'Tell your brother Shiro is trying to get ahold of him, something about needing to know his schedule.'

With that, Keith sent one last death glare at Lance and disappeared back towards the tables. 

'That guy is a pain in my ass,' Lance stated, standing up and enchanting his books to follow him. 

'Sure he'd love to be.'

'What was that?'

'Nothing,' Pidge replied innocently, collecting her own books. They returned to the table they were sharing with Hunk and Shay, and Lance passed his potions book to the Hufflepuff and pointed to the passage he didn't understand. 

But Lance would be kidding if he thought he could get away that easily, especially with the tensions of the year. Pidge was right; their past four years hadn't been nearly so volatile. 

'I need some of you to stay,' Lady Ryner announced as the fifth years began scrambling to collect their books. 'I'd say one from each house.'

No one volunteered. Lady Ryner scanned everyone's faces as they averted their gazes. 

'Let's have... Keith, Rizavi, Trigel, and Lance.'

Pidge cast Lance a warning glare. Stuffing her books violently into her bag, she leaned over, whispering, 'Play nice. I want to enjoy myself at dinner, not listen to another lame rant.'

'I won't do anything as long as he doesn't.'

Pidge rolled her eyes. 'Right. Okay. Whatever. I'll see you in Azkaban.'

Hunk patted Lance's shoulder apologetically and followed Pidge and Shay out of the library. 

'Lance, Keith, you take the east wing, please. Rizavi, Trigel, the west. Shouldn't take more than half an hour. Get to it.'

Lance nearly exploded right there in the middle of the library. As he stalked off towards the east wing, with Keith close behind him, he growled over his shoulder, 'Just, stay away from me.'

'Gladly,' Keith responded, pushing ahead and retreating into a corner of the library. 

Lance watched him go, wishing Pidge had been chosen as the Ravenclaw instead of Rizavi. Nothing against the latter, but Pidge was better at understanding how to keep Lance and Keith apart, even if she would be placed on the other side of the library. 

'You're doing it wrong,' Keith said suddenly. 

'Okay, I didn't even provoke you this time,' Lance declared angrily, not even turning around. 

'It's just-? You are well-versed with a wand and yet you're doing all of your work by hand? In a magical library? I just don't understand why you make everything harder.'

'Says the dude who couldn't even get his wand out to summon his broom,' Lance retorted. 

'You distracted me.'

'So I'm distracting now,' Lance asked, ignoring the fact that he had said something similar to Nyma a few months ago.

'You're an idiot,' Keith said. Lance heard the flick of his wand and the books in his hand flew towards their respective places on the shelves. 

'Dude, why,' Lance demanded, turning around. Keith was closer than Lance expected, close enough for Lance to recognize Keith's eyes were purple instead of the gray he'd believed them to be when they met in first year. 

'You're slowing us down,' Keith shrugged. 

'Yeah, well, maybe it's a good thing, to slow down every once in a while,' Lance commented in a mocking voice. Keith scoffed. 

'You're the most energized person I've ever met in my life.'

'Careful, Kogane, that sounded dangerously close to a compliment.'

'Bite me.'

'You wish.'

Lance could count on one hand how many times he'd been this close to anyone in a non-platonic manner.

-

'So nothing happened in the library,' Shiro asked, sounding too confused. 

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Well... I mean, unless you get in trouble for it, you usually tell me about your weird rivalry with Lance.'

'Well, maybe we did get in trouble, in which case you'll be alerted soon enough.'

'Nope. Not gonna work on me. You're not seething.'

'I never seethe,' Keith said indignantly.

'Oh, trust me, buddy,' Shiro chucked, clapping Keith on the shoulder. 'You seethe.'

'Nothing happened in the library,' Keith said finally. 'Just, usual... dumb banter. He didn't get much out of me.'

'Weird,' Shiro commented. 'You two have been insane this year.'

'So everyone keeps saying,' Keith growled, recalling Pidge saying something similar in the library. Nearby the shelves where he'd fought with Lance. 

Keith still felt weird. Something about the fight felt off. Lance didn't seem as biting as usual. More teasing, in a way that made Keith question everything he was going to say. 

'How's the party planning coming along,' Keith said instead, desperate to change the subject. 

'It's coming. It's... going well, I think.' Shiro's voice contained an excitement Keith only recognized from knowing the man his whole life. 

'This... what exactly is it celebrating?'

'You'll see,' Shiro replied secretively.

-

Keith was always nervous about getting letters from home. He never got many, and the few he did get usually brought less than favorable news. Dad died. Selling his childhood home. Mom was going on a dangerous under cover mission; he wouldn't hear from her for months. 

So when his family owl dropped a thin letter into his pancakes, Keith was less than pleased. Shiro was at the head table, laughing with Headmaster Alfor, so Keith took the moment of privacy to open the letter. 

His dog ran away. A few short sentences in his mom's messy handwriting delivered the crushing blow of the day that would have him off for a while. He crumpled the paper quickly and shoved it into his water glass, remembering the comment Shiro made about how he seethed. 

He really should have sent his weekly update letter, reminding his mom what the dog needed, honestly. He thought maybe, just  _maybe_ , his mom would have fallen into the comfortable habit of caring for his dog while he was at school, but he was unsurprisingly disappointed. 

'My dog ran away,' Keith muttered gloomily when Shiro returned to the table with a concerned expression. 

'Oh... shit Keith, I'm sorry buddy,' Shiro sighed, rubbing the boy's back. 'Do you know how long he's been missing?'

Keith stared at the letter bobbing in his water glass. 'No. Probably a day or two by now.'

'He could come back,' Shiro suggested optimistically. 'He's a very special boy.'

'Yeah, I know,' Keith said, pushing away from the table and standing up. 'I'm going to be late for class.'

'Well, if you need anything,' Shiro replied helpfully. Keith nodded without making eye contact and trudged towards potions.

 

-

 

'You need to add beetle juice,' Lance explained, carefully reading over his notes. 'Or... wait. Yeah, beetle brew, then stir... clockwise. Three times.'

There was a distinct lack of sound coming from Keith's side of the table and Lance snapped his fingers impatiently. 'Dude! Wake up!'

Keith cast Lance a bored look and pulled his chopping board toward him. 'There's no beetle brew in this potion.'

Lance consulted his notes again, realizing he'd skipped a page and was reading an entirely new set of directions. 'Fuck. Fuck!' A quick stir of their potion made him realize they'd have to start over again. 'Why didn't you say something?'

'What?'

'Oh, really mature, asshole. Can you stop acting like working with me is the worst thing on the planet and pitch in, maybe?'

Keith shrugged, looking a thousand worlds away from potions class, but opened his own notes and cleared the cauldron with a wave of his wand, and Lance noticed it was nonverbal. Stupid Shiro. Lance wished momentarily Veronica taught him extra tricks. Maybe she did and he never paid attention. 

'Medium or high heat,' Lance questioned, completely untrusting of his own notes. Keith was silent. 'Hey, Keith, asshat. Medium or high?'

Keith tapped the burner beneath the pot, muttering, ' _Incendio._ '

'Okay, this is seriously dickish of you,' Lance complained, trying to keep his volume at an appropriate level for class. 'Did I just stop existing or some shit? Is it that horrible to collaborate with me? Cause trust me, I didn't ask to be your partner here either.'

Keith didn't answer.

 

-

 

Lady Ryner was flitting among tables, strictly reminding the fifth years about what words were appropriate during class hours, though it didn't make much difference. Lance tapped his foot against the floor fervently, watching his classmates browse the endless shelves. His own book sat, forgotten, next to his elbow, and he was completely unaware of the fact that Hunk had been staring at him for a solid three minutes. 

'Okay, dude, what's up,' Hunk murmured, ever respectful of the people around him. 

'It's Keith,' Lance answered, quick-fire, like he had been waiting for someone to ask. 'Something's up.'

'Yeah, something is always up with you two.'

'No, I mean, he's weird today,' Lance persisted, sitting up straighter as Keith crossed the aisle and disappeared into the shelves again. 'Like, rudely weird.'

'Well, that explains everything,' Pidge mumbled, barely paying attention. 

'He's, like, ignoring me,' Lance continued, and Hunk rolled his eyes. 

'How is that a bad thing?'

'I didn't say it was bad,' Lance defended. 'Just... weird. I don't know. He's never ignored me before.'

'Maybe things are changing,' Hunk suggested hopefully, but he barely finished his sentence before Lance was pushing out of his chair and stalking towards the shelves Keith had disappeared into, waving a dismissive hand at his friends and missing their exchange of expressions full of raised eyebrows. 

Keith was isolated, as normal, and wasn't even examining books, just staring blankly at the ones eye level. Lance paused for a moment before marching closer. 

'What's wrong today,' he demanded in a library appropriate volume level. Keith took a moment to react. 

'Excuse me?'

'You've been acting weird since you got that letter at breakfast,' Lance persisted. 'So what happened? What slam poetry event turned you down this time?'

Keith didn't even look at him as he turned to a new wall of books, this time with his back to Lance. A sucker punched feeling rooted itself somewhere deep in Lance's chest. 

'Don't ignore me, it's a serious question!'

'Doesn't seem like it,' Keith responded, and Lance wasn't sure if he was bored or just empty at this point. 

'Well?'

Keith hesitated. 'My dog ran away.'

There was a long, tangible silence for a whirlwind of seconds. 'You had a dog?'

'Yes I _have_ a dog, you asshole,' Keith sneered, finally revealing some emotion in the form of anger. 'He's very wonderful and good and special, so to sum it up, everything you're not!'

Lance wasn't really hurt by Keith's words; he'd heard them all before and it felt good to get a reaction out of Keith at all.

'What was his name?'

'He  _currently_ doesn't have a name,' Keith snapped. Then he blushed for a second while Lance snorted. 

'Why didn't your dog have a name?'

Keith's eyes narrowed as Lance stuck firm to his insensitive jokes. 'Never got around to it. He's the only dog I own, so he just responds to all the commands.'

'Well okay then,' Lance said, his tone close to mocking. No one said anything for a while, and a fifth year Hufflepuff squeezed past Keith to get around the shelf. 

'Is your dog going to come back,' Lance asked finally, surprised by the lack of malice in his own voice. 

Keith shrugged, returning to his detached state. 'Not sure. We'll see.'

Lance didn't mull the 'we' over in his head as he returned to his seat. 

 

-

 

Keith normally slept like something dead. No dreams, no movement, and it never took him long to get there.

But every once in a while, he felt frustrated, unable to sleep, and unable to point to the cause. Frustrated and surprisingly struck by how silent the dorm room was, Keith wrote a short message in the air to Shiro. 

' _Sneaking out. Clear the halls_.'

' _Don't do anything stupid or disruptive_.'

Keith shook his head as he shrugged on his bathrobe. He often wondered how Shiro managed to get Head Boy, and wondered if Alfor knew how Shiro bent the rules for the people he liked. 

Hogwarts was a lot simpler at night. The castle wasn't bent on distracting the students, and as long as you knew your general way around, navigating the castle was much easier. 

The halls were thankfully empty, thanks to Shiro, who knew which passages Keith frequented and steered the prefects away from them.

'Nice outfit,' a voice commented, so startling that Keith nearly leapt out of the nearest window. Keith whirled around too see Lance, with horrible hair and threadbare slippers and pajamas stripped with his house colors. 

'What the fuck,' Keith demanded.

'Oh please,' Lance grumbled. 'Pidge gave me a spell that shows me halls without prefects. Apparently it  _only_  shows halls without _prefects_ , not halls without people. Why are you out?'

Keith hesitated, confused by the surprisingly lame conversation. 'Uh... can't sleep. Why are you up?'

'I'm always up,' Lance shrugged. 

'No,' Keith said. Lance raised a bored eyebrow. 'I'm out a couple times a month. I never see you.'

Lance frowned. 'Yeah, I usually stick to the lower levels of the castle. Hunk and I raid the kitchen. The house elves like him and... tolerate me.'

'Okay,' Keith said, unsure of how to continue to conversation. They were only a few feet apart, and the moon was slanting in through the tall colored windows, creating new paintings across the hall. It all seemed very... staged to Keith. Like something you read in a book. 

'Okay,' Lance said finally. Keith wasn't sure how long it had been since the last person spoke. 

'Nice slippers,' Keith shot off. Lance looked down at his feet. 

'My niece gave them too me.'

'Cute.' 

A long pause.

'Uh, which way are you going,' Lance asked when Keith did nothing but hold their uncomfortable eye contact. 

'Um... I'm... wandering, I guess,' Keith said slowly, unsure of what exactly he wanted to do. A beat. 'The kitchens, huh?'

Lance smirked. 'Jealous?'

Keith shook his head and took a step closer. He didn't mean to. 'Are you going there now?'

Lance chewed on his lip for a second. 'Uh, yeah. Yeah, okay.'

It was unspoken. They fell into oddly synchronized steps as they backtracked through the hall. Lance was dragging his feet, making a soft  _tsch tsch_  sound as he walked, and Keith was surprised to find himself unbothered by the sound. 

Descending the stairs was a nightmare. Keith wondered why Lance had climbed them at all. His rival kept his hand on his wand, sticking it out in front of him every time they reached a new set of stairs. If there was a prefect on it, the wand glowed a dull color relating to the house of the prefect. Otherwise, there was no reaction. However, there were prefects on nearly every set of stairs, and Lance pushed Keith into little cubby holes every time his wand glowed, pressing himself in as far as the space would allow. They would hide there for a beat or two, the space growing uncomfortably warm during that time, before Lance's wand would flicker off, and they'd be on their way again. 

Keith's face was red by the time they reached the kitchens. The house elves weren't particularly hostile towards either of them, but Keith still felt unsettled. 

'What do you want,' Lance asked, voice so quiet only Keith could hear him. 

'Um, a glass of water?'

Lance made a disgusted face. 'You came all the way down here for a glass of water? Did a Gryffindor piss in your dorm room pitcher?'

Keith went an even deeper red. 'Okay, uh, a breakfast roll.'

'If that's the best you can do,' Lance sighed, obviously disappointed, but he asked nicely, and the house elves dutifully passed them the things they asked for. Keith sat on an empty space of counter, slowly enjoying his snack, while Lance sat on a stool next to him and inhaled all the little things he'd asked for. 

'Do you do this every night,' Keith asked between sips of water. Lance struggled to swallow a massive mouthful of fruit before answering. 

'No. Just, uh, when I can't sleep.'

Keith nodded, unsure of what else to say.

 

-

 

Keith stopped at the base of the staircase as Lance checked the hallway towards the dungeons. His wand remained inactive for the moments that they stood there, and Lance hastily tucked his wand away before turning and facing Keith. 

'Uh, night,' he said awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Keith nodded. 

'Yeah, um, see you around.'

'We have class together in the morning,' Lance reminded him, looking a little smug. 

'Well, I might not make it. I'm exhausted.' Keith felt weird admitting that, but he swore he saw Lance smiling. 

'Me too.'

The  _tsch tsch_ played on a loop in Keith's head as he climbed the stairs and slipped into bed.

The dorm room was annoyingly silent. 

-

'That's... weird,' Hunk said between bites of oatmeal. 'I mean... yeah, no that's weird. Have you ever seen him sneaking out?'

'Well, I hear things outside sometimes,' Shay said slowly, pushing her eggs around her plate. 'But I always assume it's Shiro. He always checks on Keith when he gets back from patrol.'

'What was he like,' Pidge interrogated.

'Uh, earth to Pidge? We've been going to school with him for the past five years.'

Pidge rolled her eyes and poked Lance in annoyance. 'But I've never seen nighttime Keith, renegade of the school.'

'Don't make him sound cooler than he is,' Lance complained. There was a silence in the group, and he realized they were actually waiting for his answer. 'He's... a nerd. He wears this dumb bathrobe decorated with little silhouettes of cryptids from what I could tell.'

Hunk snorted into his breakfast. 'You know, somehow I'm not surprised.'

Shay giggled. 'I have seen him in that once. He came into the common room to yell at some partiers on the night of one of his exams. I think he made it himself.'

'That makes it even better,' Pidge cackled with delight.

'Very cute,' Lance muttered. 

'What,' Pidge asked, disbelieving of what she possibly just heard. 

'Crude,' Lance corrected himself, shaking his head. 'Didn't sleep last night. I meant to say crude.'

'You should really see the nurse about your sleeping problems,' Hunk suggested with genuine concern. 

'Nah, the school'll just tell my family. I don't want to bug them.'

Lance's words didn't change Hunk's expression.

-

In all honesty, Lance should have been studying. But Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor seemed like it would be a good game. Hunk said he was feeling confident this year, and Shay begged Lance to come during lunch.

'Check it out,' Pidge exclaimed once they finished pushing their way to the front of the stands (everyone let Shay through without question). She waved her wand and a shower of yellow sparks erupted into the air.

'Incredible,' Shay praised. 

'I know,' Pidge responded smugly. 'I modified it from Periculum.'

'I see you've also mastered nonverbal spells,' Lance commented. 

'Well, yeah,' Pidge said, adjusting her glasses, her voice still smug. 'My dad is a leading researcher in the development of new spells and my brother is studying Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not to mention my mom is a professor at Beauxbatons. I know a lot more than you guys.'

Shay laughed with delight, a sound lost in the crowd as the teams marched onto the field. 

Hunk was right to feel confident; his flying had improved, as well as his strategic skills as a Quidditch player. Lance also noticed the team had moved him from beater to chaser this year, and it seemed to be making a hell of a difference. 

Lance also noticed Keith played like people were dying. He wondered if people noticed that when he played. 

Pidge spent almost the whole game shooting encouraging sparks from her wand and shouting along with Shay. Lance pulled out his wand at one point, about to join Pidge in her cheering, but Keith flew too close to their stand, and red sparks fired out of his wand, ones he hadn't asked for, and the crowd around him booed.  

'Sorry,' he apologized. 'Misfire.'

A few people rolled their eyes. One handed him a Hufflepuff flag to wave, which he did enthusiastically. Keith raced by quickly. Lance knew he was going too fast, and rarely paid attention to the people watching, but Lance swore they made eye contact. 

Keith lost control of his broom a few times after that, but Gryffindor won, again. But even with Keith stealing the snitch in an impossible dive, the score was close. 

'And then I was all 'oh no you don't' and then, did you see that guy though? Oh man what a game!' Hunk rattled off excitedly as they walked back towards the castle. 

Shay kissed his cheek affectionately. 'You were absolutely brilliant.'

'You know what, I kind of was,' Hunk admitted proudly, puffing out his chest a little. 

'Lance fired of red sparks during the game, like a moron,' Pidge added, nudging the Slytherin. 

'Hey,' Lance argued. 'I wasn't even thinking of a spell! My wand just freaked.'

'Nice game, Garrett,' someone said in passing. Hunk beamed at them.

'Thank you,' he called out.

'Saw those dumb sparks you fired off,' someone else said, falling into step beside Lance. Turning, everyone in the group was shocked to realize it was Keith. 'Didn't think the Slytherins were big on betrayal.'

'Fuck off,' Lance retorted, but Keith didn't seem riled up. 

'Anyway, if you're going to support my house, can you please do it when I'm not around, I might throw up.'

'Don't be a dick.'

'Real original.'

'Like you could do better.'

'Are you guys-?' Pidge asked, looking confused. 'I- I thought I knew how to read you guys. Did something happen?'

Lance case Pidge an equally confused glance. 'What the hell are you talking about?'

'You guys just seem... chummier.'

Keith scoffed. 'Don't be dumb, Garrett.'

No one had any time to get another word in, because Keith stalked off ahead of them, quickly gaining distance.

'Don't say dumb shit, you guys,' Lance complained. 'The day Keith and I are ever more than enemies is the day the school recognizes individual students and not just houses.'

Pidge laughed. 'Right. Okay. Continue your meaningless rivalry.'

-

'A little announcement, if you don't mind,' Alfor said during dinner. Shiro nudged Keith excitedly. 'This Thursday evening, from six until midnight, there will be a party, here in the Great Hall, organized by our Head Boy and Girl, in celebration of a very exciting development. If you could all please attend, you've been excused from any classes, however, it isn't mandatory. Thank you!'

Keith turned to Shiro. 'What the hell is this thing?'

'Exciting,' Shiro answered vaguely. 'It starts after your study period in the library!'

'Why hold it on a Thursday?'

'So the students can finish packing on Friday. Also, you don't have to catch the train if you don't want to. It'll be easy to apparate us both home.'

'I hate the train,' Keith said by way of answer.

'Okay, well, just come find me when you're done packing. Let me know if you change your mind.'

'Right, like I do that,' Keith drawled sarcastically. 

  


-

  


'Have you seen Shiro,' Pidge panted, resting against the wall in exhaustion. 

'Probably wherever Keith is,' Lance responded. 'Why?'

'My brother has some urgent message for him,' Pidge replied, waving a dark blue letter. 'Charmed it so only Shiro can open it when he's alone. My brother's a dick who, for some fucking reason, won't send his oWN FUCKING MAIL!' She shouted at the ceiling, like her brother was some omnipotent being that could see into the school. 

Knowing Matt, he probably could.

'I think I saw him up at Gryffindor tower,' Shay said. "He was looking for Adam. But Lance and I are going to be late for potions if we don't hurry up.'

Lance shrugged. 'Me being on time doesn't mean I'll understand it any more.'

Shay rolled her eyes. 'Okay, right, yes. Let's go.'

Lance allowed himself to be dragged off towards the dungeons. 

'Why is it we have so many classes together,' Lance asked as they pushed through the school crowds. 

'I don't know, why do you ask?'

'Just seems the school is really pushing the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry these past few years.'

'Or, they're pushing the Lance/Keith rivalry after watching it bloom so magnificently in your first year. What was the first incident? Owl dung in the other's school bag?'

Lance let slip a hint of laughter. 'Yeah, I forgot about that one. In my defense, he really pissed me off.'

'So you did it first?'

'You didn't know that?'

'No one knows what happened,' Shay exclaimed, laughing slightly. 'Keith just came running back to the common room shouting obscenities about how you had really poor methods of retaliation. And he was smelling like a barn.'

'Oh that little shit,' Lance mumbled. 'He always claims he has no idea what he's doing when he gets me all riled up.'

'Just keep it contained for today. Tomorrow you won't even have to see him before we're on a train all the way home.'

'Speak for yourself,' Lance groaned. 'I'll still have a shit ton of traveling to do.'

'Where's your family again?'

'Greece, funnily enough. Veronica's been placed there for at least another year, so... we'll see how it goes.'

'Mmmm, Greece. You'll have to invite me at some point.'

'I always do, you'll just have to take me up on it.'

'Make it worth our while and we'll consider it,' Shay teased, pushing past Lance into the classroom. 

  


-

  


'Excellent work this time, students. Now, I'm sure you're all eager to get ready for the party, but please, if a few of you wouldn't mind tidying up for a little bit.'

Keith automatically slouched into his seat. He never got ready for anything, let alone a party his own brother was throwing. 

'The rest of you, feel free to get away,' Lady Ryner declared, making shooing motions with her hands. 

There was a loud shuffling as everyone fled from the library, and Keith stood as they left, instantly heading towards the east wing to tidy up, nearly tripping over Lance as he reached the back. 

'Why the hell are you hiding back here?'

'I really needed to finish my notes for potions. Want to help my niece and nephew get ahead. What are you doing?'

'Cleaning up.'

'Wait... study time is over?'

'Obviously,' Keith muttered.

'Wow... well. Okay then.' Lance stood up, packed away the books he used and began putting the odd books back where they belonged. 

'You don't... you don't have to do that,' Keith said lowly, watching as Lance continued to clean up. 

'Not like I'm going to let you one up me in the fucking library.'

'Lance,' Keith started, unsure of how he was going to stop. Lance paused his movement, fingers stretched after a book he had released. When Keith didn't continue, he turned around. 

'What's wrong this time?'

And staring at Lance, with his hands on his hips and this absolutely dumb expression, waiting to be chastised and bullied and attacked, Keith had an absolutely awful, gut-wrenching thought crash into him like a bludger. 

'Nothing,' Keith answered honestly. 'I-I gotta go.'

'Keith,' Lance called as Keith bolted, but Keith could tell the boy wasn't following him. 

  


-

  


'You could have tried a little harder,' Shiro commented playfully, pulling out his wand and giving it a quick flick. Keith's dumpy looking suit fixed itself up, tailoring to his broadened shoulders and slimmer waist, and his hair adjusted itself into looking like he had actually brushed it. 

'Yeah, well, everyone's been so damn vague about the point of this party, I couldn't be bothered,' Keith retorted.

'Okay, what's wrong with you,' Shiro asked, hunting for the truth in Keith's face. 

'Nothing, just... I feel wrong right now. Don't ask.'

Shiro frowned. 'Uh... okay. I need to go make an announcement. Hopefully that'll make you feel better? If not, we are definitely talking about this later.'

'Yeah, okay,' Keith said, with absolutely no intention of discussing his emotions with Shiro anytime soon, but his brother patted him on the shoulder and moved towards the front of the hall. 

Keith spotted Lance and his knees called for the floor while his stomach ignored all laws of gravity. Lance had cleaned up, wearing a smart looking suit, and he was laughing with his same group of friends that he was always with. Keith moved away quickly before Lance could spot him. 

'Attention everyone,' Allura called from the front of the hall, her voice magically magnified to echo off the walls and let everyone hear her. 'My father allowed for this gathering for a very special occasion, one that has never been celebrated during a Hogwarts school year.'

Shiro stepped onto the platform that had been erected, beaming, Adam standing nearby. 'You all know me as Head Boy, currently, a role I did very little to earn, but appreciate every day. And you know of my wonderful boyfriend, Adam, currently captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team!' 

A loud roar rose up from the crowd and Gryffindors began clapping each other on the back. Keith did not join in. 

'Well, this party is a celebration, as Adam is no longer my boyfriend!'

A collective gasped ran through the crowd, and Keith perked up, watching Shiro very closely. 

Adam stepped onto the podium with Shiro, smiling like a lunatic, and grasped his hand. 

'Students and staff of Hogwarts, you are currently gathered at the reception of our wedding!'

The Great Hall dissolved in chaos, screams of excitement and disbelief shooting through the air. Keith's stomach flipped around quite a bit, still ignoring gravity, but not for the same reasons. He pushed towards the front of the hall, leapt on to the podium dramatically, and shoved himself into the arms of Shiro, who laughed and gripped him tightly. 

'When?' was all Keith managed to splutter out. 

'A few days ago,' Adam said, pulling Keith into a hug. 'We married in front of family, off campus.'

'I'm family, asshole,' Keith declared, punching Shiro in the arm. 'And I'd give you more hell for keeping this secret from me if we weren't at your reception!'

Shiro shook Keith a little bit. 'I almost can't believe it!'

'I'm so happy for you both,' Allura interjected. 'You two deserve each other.'

'Well, he makes a damn good macaroni salad, so, I guess it's worth keeping him around forever,' Adam grinned, planting a kiss on his husband's cheek. 

'Okay, you, go join the festivities,' Shiro instructed Keith. 'I'll come find you later. We just have to go thank everyone for letting us do this.'

Keith nodded, lost for words, and hopped off the platform, disappearing into the sea of students all clamoring to see Shiro and Adam. 

One of the house tables had been set up as a buffet of snacks, and Keith stepped in to grab a cup of pretzels before making his way to the back of the hall to observe the chaos. 

'Keith,' Lance shouted above the noise, and Keith recalled the library, and his wrong feeling returned in full force. 'What the hell man?'

  


-

  


Keith looked undoubtedly good. And Lance wasn't blind, he understood that much. But he would never admit it.

'What are you doing,' Pidge whisper yelled as the two boys stared each other down. 'This is not the time nor the place.'

'I gotta go with Pidge on this one, buddy,' Hunk muttered. 'Really, his brother just got married. Or, just announced that he's married. Maybe leave Keith alone this time.'

'No,' Lance snapped. 'You've got some explaining to do.'

'I can't believe I wore a dress for this,' Pidge sighed dramatically, before grabbing Hunk by the arm and leading him back towards the snack table, where Shay was juggling the things Lance had shoved at her in a hurry. 

'I don't even know when they got engaged.'

'I don't care about that,' Lance said aggressively. 'I mean, congrats and all, but why'd you ditch me?'

'When,' Keith asked, his voice sounding more bored by the second. 

'In the library,' Lance demanded, seeing a spark of recognition in his enemy's eyes. 'We were on cleanup together, and you just fucking left me to finish!'

'Seriously? That's what you're mad about right now?'

'Damn straight!'

Keith rolled his eyes and had the nerve to turn and exit the hall. Lance chased after him this time. 

'Don't walk away from me! It's a serious question!'

'Is it,' Keith questioned, still walking. He rounded a corner and Lance ran to get in front of him and stop him with a hand on his chest. 

'Yeah, it is.'

Keith hesitated for a second, then grabbed Lance by the wrist and dragged him into a tiny closet Lance never would have even noticed. Planting himself in front of the door, Keith rounded on Lance, the only light in the space coming from the cracks around the door. 

'Okay, why did I leave you in the library? Because I had an epiphany.'

'About-?'

'About you, you dumb fuck. God, okay, here goes, I'm pretty sure I have a massive crush on you.'

Lance sputtered for a second, two seconds, three, very aware of Keith still gripping his wrist. 

'And, fuck, okay, I thought about it and, ugh, shit, okay, no, I thought about it and I'm pretty sure you like me back.'

Lance scoffed indignantly. 'No, nope, yeah, ha, no absolutely not.'

Keith let out a shaky breath. 'Just... hear me out please. If... if you don't agree with me, we can just... I don't know, completely ignore this.'

Lance was so astonished by Keith's change in attitude that he was silent for too long and Keith began explaining. He definitely wasn't silent because he wanted to hear the whole thing. 

'So, first years, right? Right. Why did we start fighting?'

'Because you were a dick to me.'

'Okay, yeah sure, but why was I a dick to you and no one else?'

'You saw me as a threat?'

'But do I, though?'

'Hey,' Lance cried. 'We've always been neck and neck.'

'Yeah, okay, but I came from a broken household, where the only person I've ever connected with is Shiro, my mom's garden helper, and when he first met me, I was a complete lunatic who stole his wand and set fire to my mom's garden. But, it got Shiro's attention, and he helped me and we're friends.'

'Okay, so, you've always been a dick.'

'No,' Keith argued, sounding frustrated. 'I used to be a dick. But the only way I knew how to get close to someone was by forcing them to give me attention.'

'So you're an attention whore?'

'Why the fuck do I like you?'

'I'm praying you don't, it's really embarrassing.'

Keith let out a sigh, and Lance watched him shake his head. He pressed his back into the door and slid down it dramatically. 'Can... can you just, sit down while I figure this shit out.'

'Can I just leave?'

Keith didn't answer and didn't move, so Lance took it as a no, and sat down on a little step stool, his knees tucking into his chest. The closet was alarmingly cold; Lance had never been to a section of the castle that wasn't heated properly according to the weather. 'Who would've guessed it's freezing in hell?' Keith ignored him.

'So. I used to only know that getting people's attention meant their companionship. I've grown out of that now, but, at eleven, that was probably what I still thought.

'Lance, I've heard you come from a big family, so I can imagine any form of attention from anyone is appreciated. Am I wrong?'

Lance couldn't imagine Keith's only childhood somehow related to his household of seven, but he nodded a little to indicate Keith had an accurate prediction. 

'So we attacked each other to get the other's attention.'

'Okay, valid, but I just wanted you to notice that I was just as good as you. I didn't, and don't have a crush on you.'

Keith ran his hand over his face, through his hair, messing it up to hell. 

'Okay, so we've always been vying for the other's attention,' Keith said slowly, like he was working it out himself. 'And... I mean if we're completely honest right now, the more we got it, the more excited we felt, you know? The bigger the reaction, the greater the feeling.'

'Pretty common for enemies, Keith.'

'No, but, even if it wasn't antagonistic behavior,' Keith explained. 'Like... like when I loaned you that potions text book in second year before the exam and you, no shit, began to cry. And then when I was ignoring you a few weeks ago cause my dog ran away, you freaked out!'

'Okay,' Lance said, remembering those, admittedly embarrassing, moments of weakness. 'So... we like each other's attention. Also, did your dog come home?'

'Yeah, he did, but that's beside the point here! This year, everyone's said it, it's worse. Why do you think that is? What's different this year?'

'I'm just fed up with your shit,' Lance suggested. 

'Puberty,' Keith exclaimed triumphantly, standing up and pacing in what little space he had to. Lance didn't like Keith having the height advantage, so he stood up too with his arms crossed. 

'Dude, really?'

'And these past three months have been different, haven't they? I mean, your friends said it! We don't hate each other as much!'

'Speak for yourself.'

Keith paused for a second, looking genuinely hurt. 'Just... like... cleaning in the library that first time? And the kitchen thing after hours? And then the Hufflepuff Gryffindor game where you accidentally shot sparks from your wand the same color as my house after I flew by you?'

Lance struggled to come up with a witty retort for that one. 

'And,' Keith suddenly pushed Lance up against the wall, 'when I do this, you... your pupils dilate and you blush-'

'I don't blush,' Lance cried indignantly as he blushed.

'You blush and you always,  _always_ , challenge me to make you shut up, which is  _classic_  invitation to make out with someone,' Keith explained, now rambling away like a madman, still pinning Lance against the wall. 'And-'

'Does this presentation of yours end,' Lance asked in a low, quiet voice. 

'And you stayed and listened to this whole speech,' Keith finished. His fingers gripped Lance's wrists in anticipation, and Lance thought over every point Keith had offered him, plus the ones he didn't. The fact that Lance found Keith attractive and would never admit it. Or that he felt lonely once he left Keith on the stairs after the kitchen. Constantly feeling frustrated around him and searching for him in crowded rooms and the fact that Keith ignoring him and being sad had  _killed_ Lance... it all hit a little too close to home with Keith pinning him against a wall in a freezing closet.

'Look, I-' Keith hovered in his sentence, forming his next words carefully. 'I just realized it now. In the library. And... I couldn't sleep the other night because I was frustrated for some reason, and it was really quiet in the dorm room, and after you left, I missed the dumb sound of you dragging your feet in your slippers and I felt even more frustrated that something hadn't happened. And at the time, I think I thought I wanted to fight you but now... it's sort of... always been that way.'

'Holy shit,' Lance murmured softly, staring at Keith, who looked worried beyond belief. 'I have a crush on you.'

'Y-you do,' Keith asked, obviously surprised by Lance's admission as he dropped Lance's wrists and took a step back. 

'Yeah,' Lance laughed, obviously surprised by his own admission. 'A big, long-lasting, been-here-since-we-were-first-years- _so_ - _fucking_ - _obvious_ crush on you.'

'Oh,' Keith said, voice small. 'So... what next?'

'Well, this,' Lance declared, gripping Keith by the front of his suit and dragging him in. Their teeth hit at first contact and they both recoiled, though barely pulling apart enough for their lips to stop touching. Lance's kisses were pillowy and experienced and Keith's were inexperienced and eager, and together they just seemed to fit. And Lance couldn't quite believe that he was making out with Keith in a closet at school, but then Keith made this low sound somewhere in his chest that traveled all the way through Lance's lips into his stomach and his disbelief was squashed. 

Lance hadn't realized he'd closed his eyes or stopped breathing until Keith pulled away gasping, arms locked tightly around Lance's neck. 

'You okay,' Lance asked after a moment of breathing like a marathon runner. 

'Yeah,' Keith squeaked in a pitch Lance never thought he'd hear his monotonous rival reach. 'Yeah this is good.'

'Cool,' Lance sighed, leaning in again and placing a few more slow kisses on Keith. He pulled back finally and straightened himself out a little. 'Uh... we should probably get back to the party, no?'

'Right, yeah,' Keith mumbled, reaching for the closet door and jiggling the handle. 'It's, uh, locked.'

'Huh,' Lance commented, sliding his hands around Keith's waist and placing his lips on his ear. 'Imagine that.'

The shudder of Keith's body was ridiculous. 

'Want me to-?'

'Well, I mean,' Lance started, before flipping Keith around again and pressing him into the wall. Everything about Keith's presence had suddenly clicked into place with everything Keith had said. The frustrations, the edge, the intensity, it all made sense as Lance untucked Keith's shirt from his trousers and ran his hands up Keith's torso, exploring warmth and ridges he would never admit he thought about late at night. 

Suddenly, the closet door was thrown open and both boys turned their heads, squinting at the hall light and their intruders. 

Pidge was smirking like the smug little demon she was, with Hunk and Shay smiling knowingly behind her, while Shiro just looked proud. Matt was also there, looking ecstatic, and Lance finally connected what Shiro and Matt's correspondence had been over the past month. Getting Pidge's brother to abandon his travels and turn up at a party at his old school couldn't have been easy planning.

'Well it's about damn time,' the man exclaimed, laughing slightly at their disheveled appearances, eyes scanning over Lance's fingered hair and Keith's mauled shirt. 

'I can't believe,' Pidge squealed, 'I can't _believe_  it took you idiots  _this long_!'

'Oh come on,' Lance tried, untangling himself from Keith to hold his hands up as if he were innocent. 'It's not like it was that obvious!'

'Oh no, it definitely was,' Shay laughed.

'As a responsible Head Boy, I'm going to ask you to return to the party with me,' Shiro declared in an official voice. As soon as the closet door shut behind the boys, however, his face developed a devilish grin. 'As your brother, though, I'm going to  _wink_  at you  _suggestively_.' Shiro exaggerated his actions, even adding in a nudge for good measure. 'Seriously, dude, you finally did it! Give yourself a pat on the back, I'm proud of you.'

Keith turned a bright shade of red and buried his face into Lance's shoulder, who went very rigid in shock. 

  


-

  


'So,' Lance trailed. 'Winter break.'

'Yeah,' Keith replied, in the same drawn out tone Lance had used. 

'A whole week without each other.'

'So it seems.'

The sun peeked in through the windows of the Great Hall, which had magically restructured itself into the dining hall again once the last person at the party left. Keith pushed his fruit around his plate, very aware of how easy it would be to bump knees with Lance, who sat opposite him, shoveling down waffles. 

Keith took the risk and slowly pressed his knee against Lance's, who choked on his breakfast. Keith smiled. A whole new world of possibilities. 

'Uh, a week isn't that long. It always seemed to go by so quickly when we hated each other.'

Keith snorted. 'You really know how to charm a guy.'

'You know what, you're my first, so cut me some slack,' Lance retorted playfully.

'Oh yeah, you've always been girl crazy. What happened with Allura, anyway?'

Lance shrugged, grinning into his food. 'Turns out I was projecting. Strong, independent, capable individual close to Shiro and absolutely gorgeous? Sound familiar?'

'Stop being gross,' Keith groaned. Lance leaned forward a little.

'Make me.'

There was no one else in the hall with them except for a staff member falling asleep at the head of the table, so Keith quickly grabbed Lance by the face and began to kiss him, which neither of them could finish properly as they found themselves grinning too hard. 

'Much more satisfying than fighting,' Lance commented as he sat back into his seat and finished his breakfast. 

'So, um,' Keith hesitated. 'You take the train back to London, right?'

Lance nodded as he swallowed his last bite. 'Never seen you on it, though.'

'Well would you like to?'

  


-

  


'You sure you can survive the train,' Shiro confirmed, pushing Keith's trunk into the Tetris of trunks from students who couldn't seem to grasp the simple concept of packing rectangles into a rectangle. 

'I think I'll be okay this time,' Keith said, glancing toward a window of the train where he could see Lance watching him. When they made eye contact Lance quickly disappeared as he sat back in his seat.

'Okay, well, just wave your wand around when you want me to come get you. Adam and I are going to go house hunting now anyway.'

'Okay then, see you soon,' Keith promised, hugging his brother. 'Congratulations. Seriously, dude. That's... it's insane. I'm so happy for you!'

'Yeah yeah, you big sap, go join your own boy,' Shiro laughed, ruffling Keith's hair and pushing him towards the train.

Climbing on to the train felt surreal, an action Keith only did when he was returning home at the end of the year, not the term. Keith moved down the aisle until he found Lance sitting in an empty compartment. He slid the door shut behind him and tucked himself into the space beside Lance who greeted him with an excited smile. 

'Have you ever hung out with my friends?'

'Uhhh... I don't really hang out with anyone that much,' Keith answered honestly, dread settling into his stomach. 

'Yeah, Shay mentioned that. Don't worry, you'll like these guys.'

'Fuck me, why do you have to be so sociable,' Keith groaned, leaning his head into the seat. Lance pressed his lips to Keith's jawbone for a split second and murmured, 'Maybe later.'

Before Keith could properly grasp what Lance had just done, the idiot of a boy was already leaning back, beaming. 'And you like me anyway.'

The first of Lance's crew to arrive was Pidge, dressed in jeans and a heavy sweater that mostly drowned her. She was grinning smugly at the sight of them, and it wasn't long before they were joined by Hunk and Shay, both of whom greeted Keith like he'd been with them every step of the way. 

Lance sneakily readjusted early on in the ride so Keith was between him and the window, and despite being animated when he spoke, he would eventually drop his hand and intertwine it with Keith's away from the view of his friends. 

Turned out, Lance's friends were pretty great. Keith already had respect for Shay, but it grew tenfold watching her handle the exciting personalities each of her friends had. Pidge was more brilliant than Keith had previously given her credit for, and, after asking and receiving a groan from the rest of the members in the compartment, Pidge was able to launch into a twenty minute explanation for Keith as to how she created and tested and modified so many spells. Hunk had an infectious energy of excitement for whatever he discussed, as if there was nothing he would rather do than discuss whatever topic he was working on with whoever he was engaged with. And Lance expertly kept the group entertained for the majority of the trip, adding sarcasm and wit where necessary, and anecdotes and mockeries at other times.

Halfway through the trip, Pidge got up to find the trolley lady, prompting Hunk and Shay to find some other friends to say bye to, leaving Keith to hesitantly propose an idea he'd been working on after listening to some of Lance's stories. 

'So, I know you have a couple extra hours of travel outside of just the Hogwarts Express, right,' Keith confirmed as Lance rubbed circles across Keith's knuckles and nodded to show Keith was right. 

'So... what if Shiro and I got you from your house a day before. You know, apparating, cut out the amount of time you have to travel. Then, I don't know, you could sleep over so you'd be completely ready for the train back to school. And your family wouldn't have to worry as much.'

Lance slowly began to smile. 'Really?'

'Yeah, I mean, why not?'

Lance kissed Keith as enthusiastically as their first, and Keith was convinced he could melt into the train right then and stop existing for a little bit from the intensity of it. 

'That sounds perfect.'

Keith nodded happily, holding Lance's face for a moment and studying him. 

'What's wrong,' Lance asked curiously. 

'Nothing,' Keith answered honestly.

  


**fin**  



	2. later on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a series of cute snapshots that i never finished cause the words didn't wanna work with me

Keith gave his wand a little shake in the dark of the dorm room, muttering a spell Pidge had given to him hastily two weeks ago. He could never get it on the first few tries, but it always worked in the end. Pidge always came through. Eventually, the tip of his wand let out a soundless spark of blue. He waited for a few moments, minutes, and nearly went back to sleep before his wand let out an identical spark unprompted. 

Pulling on his weathered bathrobe, Keith wrote a message in the air.  _Meeting L near library, pls help._

A moment later:  _Don't do anything gross. Have fun_.

The hallways were empty, and Keith scurried down them quickly and quietly as he descended through the castle, using secret passages and secondary corridors. His apprehension grew as he whispered, ' _Alohamora'_ and tapped his wand against the doors of the library, silently locking them behind him. The ghosts that swarmed to the library after hours noticed him instantly and flew away soundlessly, and Keith made his way towards the greatest window seats the library had to offer. 

Lance appeared a few minutes later, looking as if he were asleep. Keith felt a little bad, and also a little smug. 

'Did I wake you up,' Keith asked, stretching a hand out. Lance took it wordlessly, pressing Keith's fingertips to his lips as he sat down and pressed his spine into the cool glass. 

'I'm never asleep,' Lance said eventually, passing Keith a bread roll he'd taken from the kitchens on his way up. Keith accepted the food and informed his body it was time to get over the butterflies as their fingers brushed. Seven months was enough time. 

'What took you so long to respond then,' Keith teased, rubbing his thumb along the soft skin of Lance's hand. 

'Pidge's damn spell.'

Keith allowed himself to laugh, and Lance smiled, finally looking awake. 

'Realized you just couldn't spend the night hours without me, huh,' he said, linking his fingers through Keith's and pulling the jumble of interlocked hands towards his lips again. 

'Something like that,' Keith admitted, and Lance couldn't kiss his hand again properly as his smile grew. 

'Who knew the great Keith Kogane is an absolute mush ball,' Lance sighed dramatically, pressing his temple into the glass. 

'How dare you try and tarnish my reputation,' Keith defended, without heat, eyes locked on their mess of hands. It was Lance who laughed this time. 

'I barely saw you today, anyway,' Lance admitted, shifting on the window seat so he was opposite Keith. 'I was  _supposed_ to see you during lunch.'

'Yeah, sorry,' Keith apologized, readjusting himself so he was sprawled between Lance's legs, resting his chin against his boyfriend's knees. 'Shiro and Adam kidnapped me to look at their new flat. It's cute.'

'Wow, right, okay, your boyfriend was still alone at lunch.'

'Oh please, like Hunk and Pidge would ever let you be alone,' Keith stated, feeling smug again, having presented an statement Lance couldn't argue. Lance didn't try to respond, just carded his finger's through Keith's hair. 

'I missed you, though,' he said quietly, softly, and the moon broke through the clouds for a moment, shining across Lance's freckles, and Keith catalogued the book-worthy moment with the others. He pushed up to his knees and kissed Lance, or tried to, as the boy broke into a ridiculous grin the moment Keith began. 

'How am I supposed to convey my undying love for you if you can't behave properly when we kiss,' Keith chastised after a wasted second of trying. 

'You should know I never behave properly,' Lance replied with a shrug, and Keith found it incredibly unfair that when Lance kissed him, everything went perfectly. The moon broke through the clouds again, and Lance pulled Keith so close and kissed him so intensely that their spines curved. Keith ran his fingers through Lance's horrible bedhead, and between kisses asked, 'Did you go to bed with product in your hair?'

Lance shrugged and between kisses replied, 'No, I just need to wash it.'

Keith pulled away for a moment, and examined the fantastic mess he had made of his boyfriend's hair, with it sticking out in every direction, with his lips and cheeks flushed furiously in the light of the moon. 'Fuck, that's hot.'

And of course, when Keith leaned back in to continue their make out, Lance was smiling too hard. 

'This is really unfair.'

Lance flat out laughed then, cupping Keith's pouting face in his hands and beaming brilliantly. 'You're so cute. You're so fucking cute. I dunno when it happened or when I realized it, but  _fuck_ you're cute!' 

Keith felt himself blush harder than he had been and spluttered, 'You-you can't just do things like that! Going on and on about how cute I am, look at yourself! Listen to yourself! That's not human!'

Lance kissed him perfectly again for a long moment. 'Of course we argue this way.'

 

 

-

 

 

 

The train jostled Lance awake, or rather, his head falling off of Keith's shoulder jostled him awake, and he turned his head to examine the compartment. Keith was reading a book Shiro had given him on the platform, but quickly put it aside when he noticed Lance was awake. Hunk and Pidge were passed out together, and Shay was writing letters to the people she'd missed out on saying goodbye to.

'How long was I out,' Lance asked quietly, scooting closer to Keith. 

'A little more than an hour? Not sure. We're barely half way through.'

Lance nodded and pressed a sleepy kiss against Keith's cheek before standing up and stretching. 'I'm going to go find snacks. Want anything?'

Keith shook his head, but Shay requested a pumpkin pasty, tossing him a sickle, and Lance made his way into the corridor. Most of the train compartments were bustling with groups of friends, and Lance smiled into the few that contained people he knew, and awkwardly skirted the ones who had people he knew, but wished he didn't. 

There was a line for the trolley, and Lance shifted his weight from side to side, considering if he should get a snack for Keith anyway. At the front of the line, his lack of an impulse control, otherwise known as his boyfriend, convinced him to buy a couple extra snacks, including the chili chocolate chip cookies that made flames come out of your ears. They always made Keith excited. 

'Lance,' a voice said as he passed a compartment on his way back, and Lance turned to see Acxa poking awkwardly out of her compartment. 

'Oh, uh, hey,' he replied lamely. 

'Um, I'm not losing it, right? You and Keith?'

Lance nodded, feeling himself blushing a little. He remembered the fuss he threw last year when Acxa and Keith had entered the Great Hall arm in arm. He'd said something along the lines of: ' _No way someone actually likes him._ ' 

Oh the irony.

But Acxa offered a genuine smile, a little tight, but genuine. 'Glad you guys worked it out.'

'You sound like it was inevitable,' Lance commented and Acxa actually laughed.

'Trust me, it was,' she assured him, before someone in her compartment called out to her. 'I gotta go. But no hard feelings, okay? Don't be a stranger. We can still play some kick ass pranks next year on some unsuspecting people.'

Lance felt his chest warm up, a feeling that carried him all the way back to his compartment without noticing anyone else. Shay took her pasties with a quick thanks, and Keith studied Lance's expression as the boy sat down next to him. 'You good?'

'I... I think we got Acxa's blessing?'

Keith was silent for a moment. 'That's... good? That's good.'

Lance smiled. 'Yeah.' His smile grew as he kept thinking. 'Yeah, you know what, she's really cool! Third year we played some awesome pranks on Professor Coran! If you hadn't started dating her-'

'Whoa, okay, wow, just blame me for everything.'

'Well, once you started dating her, I kinda put her on the list of people to avoid. Ya know, like Lotor, Shiro, Adam. I didn't hate them. Just... avoided them. Didn't want to trip in front of them and have them report back to you and give you more power than you deserved to have over me at the time.'

Keith rolled his eyes. 'Lame excuse, idiot. You were jealous.'

'Well, yeah, no fucking shit,' Lance replied, pulling the chili chocolate chip cookies out of his robes and passing them to Keith, who donned a very shy and surprised smile. 

'Thank you,' he muttered, opening the pack and nibbling on one until smoke came out of his ears. Lance batted it away and pressed an adoring kiss on his cheek. 

'You guys are gross,' Hunk commented as he sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and subconsciously linking his hand with Shay's. 'Can I have a cookie?'

 

 

-

 

 

'New Zealand is cold as fuck,' Keith yelled into the wind after catching his breath. Lance stared, and stared some more, while Keith curled in on himself to try and keep his body temperature at an appropriate level without breaking eye contact. 'Are you going to invite me in or what?'

'Or what,' Lance replied, stretching a hand out. Keith grabbed it appreciatively and allowed himself to be dragged into the very modern house, all glass and sleek white couches. Once inside, Keith wasted no time kissing Lance, who responded on instinct, before pulling back. 

'What? What? I don't-'

'Oh, is that Keith,' a loving voice called out, and Lance's mother appeared at the top of the stairs, flapping her hands frantically. 'Oh oh oh, it's so nice to have you here!'

'Nice to see you again,' Keith greeted, allowing himself to be enveloped into a warm hug. Lance was still staring at him in awe. Once his mother backed away, Lance wasted no time pulling Keith into a hug again, confirming his presence. 

'Happy belated birthday, babe,' Keith murmured, low and private into Lance's ear, who gripped Keith tighter. Returning to a normal speaking voice, Keith explained how Lance's mom had contacted him and they'd worked out a chunk of the summer where Keith could visit. 

'Shiro couldn't stay. Had to finish signing papers with Adam on their new flat, but uh... he says happy birthday too.'

'Can I get you anything? Tea? A snack? We have bread, would you like some toast?'

Keith laughed slightly. 'It's okay, thank you.' A moment of silence passed as Lance's mother scuttled around the kitchen, flicking her wand at the odd plate or crumb. 'Lance, buddy, you okay?'

'I just can't believe you're here,' Lance sputtered out eventually, a smile slowly growing on his face. 'How long were you outside for?'

'A few minutes only, thankfully. The change in seasons sort of caught me off guard.'

'It's common knowledge, you moron,' Lance replied, grabbing Keith's hand and pulling him towards the stairs. 

'Well, yeah, but it was last minute, and we are wizards. Things like that don't usually bother us. Where are we going?'

'My room,' Lance answered. 'Uh, well. It's really a guest room, but I get to stay here for the summer holidays.'

The room was packed to the ceiling with boxes, and Lance's wand and school books were strewn across the floor next to a nest of blankets and pillows. 

'You haven't finished unpacking,' Keith stated as Lance curled into the blankets and patted the space next to him. 

'Well, the majority of our energy is being focused into transporting everything here. A lot of Portkeys and apparating and begging Dr. Holt to share any possible spell work that could make this easier.'

Keith nodded, settling into the space Lance offered. 

'We're actually going back to Greece tomorrow,' Lance continued, pulling a bag of chips out from under some blankets and opening them. 'That'll be nice. All beaches and sun. Good food. Great people.'

'Oh yeah? Tell me about it?'

'Well, we have this house right next to the water, and it's on the edge of both communities, so we get a good mix of Muggles and the Wizarding World. It's kind of a long walk to the best food places, but oh my god, is it worth it. We can go as soon as we get there.'

Lance rattled on as Keith curled into his side, appreciative of being with him again, and fell asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i found myself wanting to justify my choices for their houses ? like, i enjoy the ones where, ya know, they don't fall into stereotypes or anything. and i did nod to those so like
> 
> lance - loyal, charming, ambitious. a) yes, b) yes, c) this boy was determined to screw keith over for, like, ever so like, yeah. slytherin boy. his other option was gryffindor, which is his boyfriend. 
> 
> pidge - curious, always in pursuit of knowledge, and attracted to the like minded. she very thoroughly investigated lance's changing emotions, although never shown. her other option was slytherin, which is why she interacted with lance so much. 
> 
> hunk - hardworking, fair, loyal. he's very close to gryffindor as well, but i'd argue that, while he's brave, he isn't necessarily bold, and i think he'd be very much drawn towards the mindset of hufflepuffs. alternatively, his lovely girlfriend Shay is obviously gryffindor. 
> 
> keith - bold, excitable, courageous. i mainly placed keith into gryffindor due to the fact that i knew he would follow in shiro's footsteps, and shiro fits into gryffindor really nicely, while he does have aptitude for others. i see a lot of people argue for hufflepuff for these two, but they aren't really fair in this au, and i needed them to show obvious favoritism towards each other to illustrate the nature of their relationship. 
> 
> allura- honestly, she could have easily gone into hufflepuff as well, but i made the executive decision. no real logic behind this one. i'd like to think her mother was in hufflepuff, while alfor was in ravenclaw. 
> 
> so yeah, while the fun, non-stereotypical ideas for their sortings work in a lot of different scenarios, i needed them this way for this particular version of my story. and obviously, being in a house isn't ignoring their qualities that fit into other houses. just highlights the main aspects of their personality, i feel like. idk. i'm writing at 3 am, so, like always, nothing will ever make sense.


	3. a better thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there was one last thing i wanted to add

It was sort of funny. Keith was lonely, and then he wasn't. And then he was at school, and he was kind of lonely again? And then that stupid fucking asshole in Slytherin boosted its evil reputation, until he didn't, until he somehow created a friend group of students from each house, and damn, he was still a stupid fucking asshole in Slytherin, but Keith wasn't lonely anymore. And there were hopes and dreams Keith didn't believe to be achievable, and yet...

Lance carded his fingers through Keith's hair, speaking absentmindedly to Hunk and Pidge as they furiously tried to keep their experimental broom from destroying their current location by exploding. 

'A little help here,' Pidge snapped through Lance's stream of consciousness, encouraging Keith to sit up and pull out his wand. 

'What'doyou need,' Keith offered, examining Hunk's concentrated expression as he gripped the handle of the broom with extreme determination. 

'Just, I don't know, help,' Pidge replied, before returning to her frantic whispering, working through every spell she knew, taught to her and created, waving her wand eccentrically.  Keith shrugged and muttered, ' _Reparo_ ,'  while Lance picked up his chattering. 

'I dunno, what do you guys think,' Lance asked finally, looking at his friends. Keith was struggling internally, mentally chanting his spell over and over again, drowning out anything his beautiful, fuck, so beautiful boyfriend was saying. Pidge was practically screeching spells like a siren, a warning, something horrible was coming, and Hunk was relying on tough dragon hide gloves and brute strength to keep the broom from exploding and violently maiming, or possibly killing, the inhabitants of the room. 

'It's gonna break, Pidge,' Hunk warned, to which the recipient of the comment grunted angrily. 

'Guys,' Lance asked, an unattractive whine to his voice. 

'Not now, babe,' Keith muttered. 

It happened very quickly. Hunk exclaimed something profane, Pidge threw her wand up and yelled a spell, and Lance wrapped himself around Keith, intertwining legs and limbs until there was no distinction between the two. And not a blink later, the broom exploded, shattering the windows with a deafening  _boom_.

But no one died. A very thin layer of protection had encased them, extending from Pidge's wand, and Hunk had offered his own shield of protection for Keith. 

'Seriously,' Pidge chastised, glaring in KeithandLance's direction. 'You guys couldn't keep your concentration for  _one more_ second? Hunk and I are  _trying_ to revolutionize transport and sport, but Lance just can't help distracting his boyfriend with discussions of-of... what the hell were you even talking about?'

Lance unwound himself from Keith's torso, looking sheepish. 'I just wanted to know if we should sign up for that Ministry tour and talk.'

Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, obviously concerned with the priorities of her comrades. 'Lance... honey...babe...darling. We signed up for that weeks ago.'

Lance frowned. 'We did?'

'Yeah buddy,' Hunk confirmed, tugging off his gloves and looking forlornly at the shattered broom remnants at his feet. 'Pidge and I signed us up for that when the students were first alerted.'

'Oh,' Lance said shortly, a blush creeping up his neck. 

'Can we go get lunch,' Keith asked, and Pidge let out a loud screech, that drawled out into a sigh of... something. Some emotion Keith couldn't quite recognize, but felt in his arms and legs when placed in a group project. 

'Yeah sure,' she said, finally, tiredly, and the group trekked out of the empty classroom they'd demolished, Keith waving his wand at the windows before they left, repairing the damage they'd done. 

Keith linked his fingers with Lance as they descended the stairs, a loose and comforting hold, grounding him, somehow. 

'So I distracted you, huh,' Lance asked smugly, lowly, keeping a small distance from their companions. 

'Don't look so pleased with yourself,' Keith said, abusing the warmth that grew out from his stomach, stopping it before it reached his fingers and ears, before it tugged the stoicism from his expression. 

'Well, I mean, final year and all, we should be well versed in maintaining our emotions while casting extensive charms,' Lance continued. 

'Yeah yeah, ok,' Keith sighed, tugging on Lance's fingers in his grasp, tightening it, confirming it.

**Author's Note:**

> i might have a fluffy extra to publish as an extra chapter if y'all want?
> 
> pidge definitely owns an invisibility cloak


End file.
